The Geography of Race and Ethnicity in the United States: Uncovering a Hidden History of Expulsion and Exclusion

Migration has shaped the geography of race and ethnicity throughout U.S. history and attempts to exclude certain groups have been common. Although such exclusionary practices were eventually made illegal at the federal level, exclusion was more successful at the local level, especially in small towns. Many of these exclusionary events are not part of the historical record. Economist Samuel Bazzi and his collaborators will use linked historical census and newspaper data, and large language models, to build a nationwide dataset detailing the expulsion/exclusion of minority groups from towns and cities between 1850 and 1950. They aim to identify understudied forms of exclusion (such as “sundown towns ”), to characterize both the causes of racial/ethnic exclusion and its consequences for affected groups and places. The investigators will identify: systematic factors driving these events, impacts on affected populations, and demographic, cultural, and economic changes in these places, with a focus on African Americans, Chinese, and Mexicans who were most affected.